EMERGENCY RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Date of Adoption: July 12, 2000.
Purpose: Amend commercial fishing rules.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing 220-52-05100D; and amending WAC 220-52-051.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: Section 7, chapter 107, Laws of 2000.
Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that immediate adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety, or general welfare, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment upon adoption of a permanent rule would be contrary to the public interest.
Reasons for this Finding: A weekly landing limit for spot shrimp is necessary to reduce risk of overharvest. The additional catch reporting rules are necessary to maintain an orderly fishery, provide the ability to enforce the 2000 state/tribal Puget Sound shrimp harvest management plan requirements, and to ensure conservation. Area, time, and depth closures for shellfish pot and shrimp beam trawl fishing were inadvertently omitted from permanent rules during recent housekeeping revisions. The state's quota share of spot shrimp in Crustacean Management Area 26B-1 (the area in 26B outside of the area described above) have been taken. There is insufficient time to promulgate permanent rules.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0. Effective Date of Rule: July 12, 2000, 11:59 p.m.
July 12, 2000
J. P. Koenings
Director
by Larry Peck
Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-52-051, effective 11:59 p.m. July 12, 2000 until further notice it is unlawful to fish for shrimp for commercial purposes in Puget Sound except as provided for in this section:
(1) All waters of Crustacean Management Regions 1B, 1C, 2, 3, 4, and 6 are open to harvest of all shrimp species.
(2) It is unlawful to harvest spot shrimp for commercial purposes using shellfish pot gear in Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch and Reporting Area 26B except in those waters south of a line from Alki Point to Orchard Point and north of a line from West Point to Skiff Point excluding those waters north of the Richmond Beach Park (47 degrees and 46 minutes latitude), south of Edwards Point, and east of the 100 fathom depth contour.
(3) It is unlawful for the combined total harvest of spot shrimp by a fisher and/or the fisher's alternate operator to exceed 800 pounds per week or to exceed 300 pounds per week from Crustacean Management Regions 2 or 4. Any fisher whose weekly shrimp harvest activity is exclusively limited to Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch and Reporting Areas 23C, 23D, 29, or the western portion of Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch and Reporting Area 23A (west of a line projected true north from the new Dungeness light), or any combination of these areas, shall not be subject to the weekly spot shrimp trip limit for that week. The spot shrimp trip limit accounting week is Monday through Sunday.
(4) It is unlawful to fish for shrimp for commercial purposes in Puget Sound using shellfish pot gear in more than one Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area per day. Fishers may move all of their shellfish pot gear from one Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area to another Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area if a harvest report is made before the shellfish pot gear is moved. The harvest activity report must be made consistent with the provisions of WAC 220-52-075 and must also include the following additional information.
(a) The number of pots being moved to a new area.
(b) The Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area that pots are being moved to.
(5) It is unlawful to set or pull shellfish pots in one Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area while in possession of shrimp harvested from another Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area except shellfish pots may be set in a new fishing area subsequent to making a report as indicated in Section 5 above.
(6) It is unlawful to fish for shrimp in Puget Sound with beam trawl gear except:
(a) Crustacean management area 1 - Open until further notice.
(b) Crustacean management area 3 - Open until further notice, except closed in waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 23A west of a line projected due north from the Dungeness lighthouse.
(7) It is unlawful to fish for shrimp in Puget Sound with beam trawl gear in waters shallower than 100 feet.
(8) It is lawful to fish for shrimp in Puget Sound with beam trawl gear in Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 21A only in those waters north and west of a line from the southern tip of Sinclair Island to Carter Point on Lummi Island.
(9) The following restrictions apply to shrimp trawl harvest in Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 20A:
(a) Closed in waters east of a line from the southwest corner of Point Roberts to Sandy Point.
(b) Closed in waters shallower than 20 fathoms.
(c) Closed in waters shallower than fifty fathoms immediately through July 15.
(10) It is unlawful to harvest shrimp using shellfish pot or shrimp beam trawl gear from one hour after official sunset to one hour before official sunrise.
(11) It is unlawful to fish for shrimp in Puget Sound with shellfish pot gear in Shrimp Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 and it is unlawful to fish for shrimp in Puget Sound with beam trawl gear in Shrimp Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
(12) It is unlawful to fish for shrimp in Puget Sound with shellfish pot or beam trawl gear in waters of Lopez Sound (22A) south of a line projected east and west from the northern tip of Trump Island until 8:00 a.m. on July 10.
(13) All shrimp taken under this section must be sold to licensed Washington wholesale fish dealers. No fisher may land shrimp without immediate delivery to a licensed wholesale dealer or, if transferred at sea, without transfer to a licensed wholesale dealer.
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The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed effective 11:59 p.m. July 12, 2000:
| WAC 220-52-05100D | Shrimp fishery -- Puget Sound (00-114) |